Search Results (20)

This paper analyses the dynamics of connectedness among technology-oriented assets, such as fintech, blockchain, cybersecurity, internet, and disruptive technology indices, on the effect of political signal quality on the transmission of spillovers. Applying the Time-Varying Parameter Vector Autoregressive (TVP-VAR) model with frequency-based connectedness, the paper explores dynamic, horizon-dependent spillovers in the interconnection of innovation-based financial markets from January 2015 to April 2025. The findings show consistently high interconnectedness among 4IR assets, but this level increases significantly during the COVID-19 outbreak and the Russia–Ukraine conflict. It is also found that disruptive technology and fintech indices dominate shock transmission among interconnectedness networks. Based on the frequency decomposition approach, it is evident that spillovers arise from short-run dynamics, indicating that 4IR financial systems respond quickly to uncertainty shocks and to synchronized investor behavior. The regression and quantile regression analyses indicate a conditional effect of political signal quality on connectedness, especially during crisis periods marked by higher market uncertainty and stress. Specifically, it is evident that a deterioration in political signal quality increases spillover effects due to information uncertainty and expectation-based investor behavior. This means that, in an innovation-driven financial system, uncertainty is not just transmitted through macroeconomic and financial factors, but also through political communication and information uncertainty. In summary, this paper adds to the existing literature on connectedness by considering political information quality uncertainty in analyzing the 4IR financial system and by identifying how technological integration makes the financial market vulnerable during crises. Full article

This research investigates the spillover effects between assets of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), focusing on the role of climate policy uncertainty in shaping these interactions. Using a time-varying parameter vector autoregressive (TVP-VAR) approach and a joint connectedness method, the analysis incorporates five global indices representing key 4IR domains: the internet, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and robotics, fintech, and blockchain. The findings reveal significant interdependencies among 4IR assets and evaluate the effect of risk factors, including climate policy uncertainty, as a critical driver of the determinants of returns. The results indicate the growing impact of climate-related risks on the structure of connectedness between 4IR assets, highlighting their implications for portfolio diversification and risk management. These insights are vital for investors and policymakers navigating the intersection of technological innovation and environmental challenges in a rapidly changing global economy. Full article

Industry 4.0 is an industrial paradigm that is causing changes in form and substance in factories, companies and businesses around the world and is impacting work and education in general. In fact, the disruptive technologies that frame the Fourth Industrial Revolution have the potential to improve and optimize manufacturing processes and the entire value chain, which could lead to an exponential evolution in the production and distribution of goods and services. All these changes imply that the fields of engineering knowledge must be oriented towards the concept of Industry 4.0, for example, Mechanical Engineering. The development of various physical assets that are used by cyber-physical systems and digital twins is based on mechanics. However, the specialized literature on Industry 4.0 says little about the importance of mechanics in the new industrial era, and more importance is placed on the evolution of Information and Communication Technologies and artificial intelligence. This article presents a frame of reference for the importance of Mechanical Engineering in Industry 4.0 and proposes an extension to the concept of Mechanics 4.0, recently defined as the relationship between mechanics and artificial intelligence. To analyze Mechanical Engineering in Industry 4.0, the criteria of the four driving forces that defined mechanics in the Third Industrial Revolution were used. An analysis of Mechanical Engineering Education in Industry 4.0 is presented, and the concept of Mechanical Engineering 4.0 Education is improved. Finally, the importance of making changes to the educational models of engineering education is described. Full article

Cross-laminated timber (CLT) has been one of the principal materials in mass timber construction, and now it is possible to find mid-rise and high-rise projects around the globe. This study makes a scientometric review comparison between CLT and the impact of the fourth industrial revolution (formally known as Industry 4.0) in the construction industry, focusing on worldwide academic publications between 2006 and 2022. The analysis considers keywords, co-author, co-citation, and clustering analysis. This study used 1320 documents, including journals and conference proceedings from the Scopus database, where 753 were for cross-laminated timber and 567 for Industry 4.0. Key researchers, research institutions, journals, publications, citation patterns, and trends are some of the results obtained from the scientometric analysis. Once the knowledge mapping was conducted for both fields, scrutiny of the interconnection of both areas was performed to find possible research gaps from a manufacturing perspective. Among the conclusions, it is logical to say that Industry 4.0 implementation in cross-laminated timber is still in its infancy. One of the most popular technologies impacting construction is the digital twin concept; however, no work is reported for CLT on this topic. Additionally, digital automation is a necessity in any research practice, and the use of industrial robots is shown to be an essential asset for CLT as these robots can handle complex shapes. Full article

Digital transformation underscored by the fourth industrial revolution has led to the emergence of sophisticated technology-enabled financial services known as fintech, that has swiftly altered traditional financial services space. Global adoption of fintech is rapidly increasing due to its disruptive nature and is largely embraced by participants who are underserved by traditional financial service providers. Global investments in fintech are growing rapidly year by year owing to increased interconnectivity with the digital revolution. Fintech is expansive, engulfing a plethora of innovative applications in various services including payments, financing, asset management, insurance, etc. There exists a gap in the literature and visualization research on impact and future pathway of fintech innovations in payments and financial services and role of financial regulations. This study aims to enrich the understanding of fintech innovations in payments and financing and investigate the correlation and significance of regulatory framework in maintaining a fair ecosystem. With this objective, an extant systematic review was performed using research articles published in peer-reviewed journals for the period 2014–2022 when there has been a burgeoning of interest in ‘fintech’ globally. The findings of this study contribute to the theoretical constructs of fintech innovations in the financial services industry and show that such innovations play a crucial role in shaping the nature of future of business. The results of this study have implications for researchers who could deploy this research as a reference point to get a holistic insight and a detailed mapping of innovations in fintech. Full article

The significant progress in the electric automotive industry brought a higher need for new technological innovations. Digital Twin (DT) is one of the hottest trends of the fourth industrial revolution. It allows representing physical assets under various operating conditions in a low-cost and zero-risk environment. DTs are used in many different fields from aerospace to healthcare. However, one of the perspective applications of such technology is the automotive industry. This paper presents an overview of the implementation of DT technology in electric vehicles (EV) propulsion drive systems. A general review of DT technology is supplemented with main applications analysis and comparison between different simulation technologies. Primary attention is given to the adaptation of DT technology for EV propulsion drive systems. Full article

Industry 4.0 (I4.0) grew from and is guided by smart manufacturing. The fourth industrial revolution’s I4.0 would induce radical changes and transformations in the everyday operations of businesses and people’s life. Due to these major changes impacting all sectors and industries worldwide, the sustainability of the new future systems and operations is pertinent. The current research literature points out that the social (human factor) aspect is relatively underrepresented in the I4.0 sustainability-related studies. The few studies related to the social aspect usually investigate the so-called ‘techno-centric’ approach to the subject. This study aimed to investigate the I4.0 construction project management (PM) profession from the socially sustainable ‘worker-centric’ approach. Five key assets of the new I4.0 project managers role, specifically in the construction industry, were explored to achieve this goal. This was conducted through a survey questionnaire aimed at 100 construction project managers based in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. The overall research results showed that academic and professional qualifications were found to be key factors in the process of adapting to the new I4.0 methodologies. Full article

The technical innovation of the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0—I4.0) is based on the following respective conditions: horizontal and vertical integration of manufacturing systems, decentralization of computing resources and continuous digital engineering throughout the product life cycle. The reference architecture model for Industry 4.0 (RAMI 4.0) is a common model for systematizing, structuring and mapping the complex relationships and functionalities required in I4.0 applications. Despite its adoption in I4.0 projects, RAMI 4.0 is an abstract model, not an implementation guide, which hinders its current adoption and full deployment. As a result, many papers have recently studied the interactions required among the elements distributed along the three axes of RAMI 4.0 to develop a solution compatible with the model. This paper investigates RAMI 4.0 and describes our proposal for the development of an open-source control device for I4.0 applications. The control device is one of the elements in the hierarchy-level axis of RAMI 4.0. Its main contribution is the integration of open-source solutions of hardware, software, communication and programming, covering the relationships among three layers of RAMI 4.0 (assets, integration and communication). The implementation of a proof of concept of the control device is discussed. Experiments in an I4.0 scenario were used to validate the operation of the control device and demonstrated its effectiveness and robustness without interruption, failure or communication problems during the experiments. Full article

Knowledge management (KM) involves learning from past experiences to avoid or correct scope misalignments, quality deviations, safety problems, time delays and/or cost overruns. KM is frequently materialized as a risk management (RM) plan. An RM plan allows for anticipating, avoiding, mitigating, or reducing potential problems impacting project performance. However, despite their high complementarity, KM and RM are not the same, nor share the same purpose. In the advent of the fourth industrial revolution, managing complex projects involves many KM-related challenges, such as differential competitiveness enhancement and value chain streamlining. Naval platforms are complex projects that require the integration of multiple sources of knowledge and information. They also need to keep on integrating latest digital technology innovations in their production processes. In this context, streamlining the requirements management may become a differential asset for project stakeholders of naval platforms. Namely, enhancing requirements management can make the customers’ needs easier to meet, shorten the projects duration, reduce costs, optimize resources, and allow for higher flexibility. However, requirements management has KM as pre-requisite and RM as consequence. Unfortunately, potential synergies between KM and RM have remained largely unexplored in the project management literature, and so has requirements management as a potential bridge between both concepts. In this paper, a holistic model for shipbuilding organizations linking KM and RM is proposed. The model draws from existing KM and RM models while considering organizational factors, technological platforms, and competitiveness factors. A case study of a naval platform showing the model’s applicability is provided. It is shown how the model can allow shipbuilding companies to sustain a competitive advantage by facilitating more robust decision making in dynamic project environments. Furthermore, the model also facilitates the identification of the companies’ core competences to reach and keep a strong position in current global markets. Full article

Firms have been undergoing a fundamental transformation of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and the transformation is driven by the adoption and development of innovative technology such as big data or artificial intelligence. While the impacts of the Fourth Industrial Revolution technology on economic performance have been actively documented, Korean firm-level data indicates that still, the majority of firms have not yet utilized the Fourth Industrial Revolution technology. Hence, this study examines determinants and propensity for adopting and developing the Fourth Industrial Revolution technology. Probit model estimations show that size, internal R&D intensity, the ratio of intangible assets to the sum of intangible and tangible assets, and patent rights are positively associated with adopting and developing the innovative technology, while there are sectoral differences. Notably, a strategic alliance is the most substantial factor for the propensity of adopting and developing the Fourth Industrial Revolution technology. In sum, this study finds that not only internally accumulated intangibles and R&D investment but also active collaboration with other firms can facilitate diffusion of the Fourth Industrial Revolution technology. Therefore, building up the environment to prompt collaboration can be another effective way to accelerate transformation in addition to supporting R&D and intangible investment. Full article

As the world enters a fourth Industrial Revolution, organizations worldwide face challenges in dealing with important assets such as industrial technology. Leaking these assets can not only damage organizations economically but also negatively affect customer relationships and brand image. This has led to an increased awareness of industrial security in both the business and academic spheres and a focus on identifying and implementing countermeasures against security incidents, as future computing environments will continuously face security threats. This study first examines the literature on industrial security and its current status in South Korea, which is considered an active industrial security research environment. Subsequently, meta-analyses are conducted on South Korea and abroad to compare their status and research trends in the industrial security field. The results confirm that South Korea has more actively conducted relevant studies compared to international research. This study contributes to the current literature by not only increasing the awareness of industrial security but also encouraging future studies in the field to facilitate a safe and sustainable computing environment. Full article

Blockchain technology has been commonly used in the last years in numerous fields, such as transactions documenting and monitoring real assets (house, cash) or intangible assets (copyright, intellectual property). The internet of things (IoT) technology, on the other hand, has become the main driver of the fourth industrial revolution, and is currently utilized in diverse fields of industry. New approaches have been established through improving the authentication methods in the blockchain to address the constraints of scalability and protection in IoT operating environments of distributed blockchain technology by control of a private key. However, these authentication mechanisms do not consider security when applying IoT to the network, as the nature of IoT communication with numerous entities all the time in various locations increases security risks resulting in extreme asset damage. This posed many difficulties in finding harmony between security and scalability. To address this gap, the work suggested in this paper adapts multimodal biometrics to strengthen network security by extracting a private key with high entropy. Additionally, via a whitelist, the suggested scheme evaluates the security score for the IoT system with a blockchain smart contract to guarantee that highly secured applications authenticate easily and restrict compromised devices. Experimental results indicate that our system is existentially unforgeable to an efficient message attack, and therefore, decreases the expansion of infected devices to the network by up to 49 percent relative to traditional schemes. Full article

Although the circular economy (CE) is recognized as a source of value creation, there is a huge gap between the vast concept of CE and its practical applications. Particularly, the lack of information and performance indicators, in terms of economic, environmental and social aspects, does not allow for the assessment of the level of circularity of the products, processes or companies. Further development of other circular activities can be limited for this reason. In addition, intelligent assets arising with the digital transformation within the “Fourth Industrial Revolution (I4.0)” can support CE to provide these lacking aspects. Thus, the objective of this paper is to highlight how and how much the circular business models are enhanced by intelligent assets from I4.0, considering several case studies found in the literature, and through the application of an assessment tool with secondary data from the selected case studies. According to the tool, the CE principles are extended to the entire product lifecycle, from product design to product utilization, within the transition to novel business strategies. Two of the considered case studies are represented in the assessment tool, as examples, to demonstrate how intelligent assets can support circular economy in the design, assessment and comparison of circular initiatives. The visualization of existing innovative business models based on CE and enhanced by intelligent assets allows for the complete and effective evaluation of materials, products, assets and processes, due to the fact that information and indicators can be collected to measure and monitor circular efficiency. Full article

Digital transformation is no longer a future trend, as it has become a necessity for businesses to grow and remain competitive in the market. The fourth industrial revolution, called Industry 4.0, is at the heart of this transformation, and is supporting organizations in achieving benefits that were unthinkable a few years ago. The impact of Industry 4.0 enabling technologies in the manufacturing sector is undeniable, and their correct use offers benefits such as improved productivity and asset performance, reduced inefficiencies, lower production and maintenance costs, while enhancing system agility and flexibility. However, organizations have found the move towards digital transformation extremely challenging for several reasons, including a lack of standardized implementation protocols, emphasis on the introduction of new technologies without assessing their role within the business, the compartmentalization of digital initiatives from the rest of the business, and the large-scale implementation of digitalization without a realistic view of return on investment. To instill confidence and reduce the anxiety surrounding Industry 4.0 implementation in the manufacturing sector, this paper presents a conceptual framework based on business process management (BPM). The framework is informed by a content-centric literature review of Industry 4.0 technologies, its design principles, and BPM method. This integrated framework incorporates the factors that are often overlooked during digital transformation and presents a structured methodology that can be employed by manufacturing organizations to facilitate their transition towards Industry 4.0. Full article

Blockchain and artificial intelligence are the most important keywords in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. This study sought to apply these core technologies to future validated algorithms that make real estate transactions secure to come up with an encryption algorithm. In addition, the real estate transaction is being paid a large fee by the middlemen, the real estate agent. Furthermore and recently, P2P (peer-to-peer) real estate exchange is used a lot. However, these P2P real estate exchanges also have problems that have not been identified by each other between landlords and tenants. In particular, a research model was established to compare and verify the PBFT (practical Byzantine fault tolerance) algorithm of Hyperledger through the blockchain agreement process. Subsequently, a process for verifying the real estate contract was established. Through VM (virtual machine) research methodology for the verification of blockchain real estate contracts, ElGamal communication was provided to prove quantum cryptography. We also automated lightweight encryption test verification tools and blockchain smart contract VM (virtual machine) models using artificial intelligence. Verification was performed through a reservation server and a monitoring server using a test verification tool for network-based lightweight security IoT (Internet of things) GW (gateway). It presents important ECP (elastic curve program) and elastic curve Qu-Vanstone (ECQV) models among the main functions of the blockchain smart contract, and it is equipped with quantum-based encryption algorithm. In addition, the necessary UML (unified modeling language) source code and performance data were calculated according to the actual experimental environment, and the average value for blockchain for administrative or government authorized assets—4000 TPS (transaction per second) were tested. In the future, we want to use this technology for real estate transactions. Full article